Michael Gouby, started his business career in 1961 - firstly in accountancy,
which lasted for only one year, when he realised that it was not his calling.

In 1962 he started his apprenticeship as a trainee buyer in
the men's fashion department at Harrods and thereby developed his skills
in retailing.

Whilst at Harrods he began
collecting coins in a small way back in 1964, when the market was much
quieter. As a young collector he found it difficult to sell his duplicates to
dealers at a fair price and therefore turned to selling via the small ads
magazine "Exchange and Mart"; which in the early 1960's became a
growing trend for 'part time dealers'.

In 1965, Michael extended his coin sales by
having a stall, on a Sunday morning, in Cutlers Street; a then well known
location for buying and selling small antiques, coin and medals. It was located
near the other famous Sunday market - Petticoat Lane.

1966 was a turning
point; as a
senior manager of Harrods approached him, asking his advice, as the store
wished to set up its own coin department. They knew of his developing knowledge
of coins and that he was dealing - part-time. They eventually rejected his plans for
how the coin department should be developed and run and decided instead on the
'safe' option of having an outside coin
company wholly supply and price the coins, with a member of Harrods
staff simply to sell them. Having decided on this course, Harrods then asked Michael to sell his
coin collection, at cost price to them, as well as sign a paper
forbidding him to deal in coins in the future, other than for Harrods. In exchange he would be moved to
the new coin department as a salesman. Michael resigned.

The
Harrodscoin department lasted approximately ONE
year and made a great deal of money for the 'outside' company but very little
for Harrods !

Following his resignation, with a
Mayfield school friend, Howard Neville,
they formed the partnership of Michael Howard Coins and their first full time retail outlet was a stand in the Antique
Hypermarket, on Kensington High Street. They were also to be seen at the Coin Fairs being staged in London,
Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester which was a new concept, at that time.

In 1968 Howard joined the company full time
and by the end of the year they acquired a second outlet, the shop at 6 Hillgate Street, as well
as retaining the stand at the Antique Hypermarket.

However, in 1969 Howard decided that his interest
really lay in antiques rather than in coins and the partnership was mutually dissolved. Howard
remained for a few more years at the Hypermarket whilst Michael retained the
shop at 6 Hillgate Street; where he has been ever since.

In 1970 Michael was joined by
Alistair Mackay. He rented part of the shop and sold Greek and Roman coins
as well as early artifacts, which complemented and completed the range of stock from ancient to
modern. Alistair stayed until 1974 and then moved to Rothwell, in
Northamptonshire in 1975 where he still deal with all types of coins, etc.
but his main field is ancient Greek & Roman coins. He now also does watch and clock repairs.
All the ancient coins (Greek & Roman) in Michael's shop has been identified
and priced by Alistair. They still a very close working relationship. See
Alistair's website at www.coinmac.co.uk.

In 1994 he was elected Chairman
of the Reading Coin
Club which he served for the maximum period of 5 years. He was then asked to
preside as President which he did for 3 years. The increased pressures of
business, in London, meant that in 2002 he stepped down from any official office
within the club. However he still fully supports the club and is an active
member and attends the club meeting, most months.

The Reading
Coin Club meets regularly on
the first Monday of each month at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square - in
the centre of Reading (next door to the library) and is only a 10 minute walk
from the main line station.

The meeting commences at 7:00 pm
with the talk or planned activity starting at 8:00 pm. From 7:00 - 8:00 pm is
time for trading,
friendly discussions and beverages, etc. Regularly between 20 to
30 members attend. The club has an extensive numismatic library and a monthly
news letter is sent to each member advising as to what happened last month and
what is planned for the following meeting, etc.

A cordial welcome is extended to
all interested visitors who must be introduced by a member. For anyone wishing
to come along to a club night Michael is probably available to be their host as
he attend most meetings - just ask him!

For more details about the club,
or read some of the newsletters, or check on what is happening next month, etc. why
not visit their web site - either now or later at www.readingcoinclub.co.uk

Michael's next book, in 2000, after several years research, was on "The British Bronze Coinage 1860 to
1869" and
examines the production of the
British bronze coinage; Pence , Halfpence & Farthings, from 1860 to 1869 - the first 10 years of the great British bronze
re-coinage. Part of the research material has been obtained from previously unrecorded
documents. He also carefully looks at the production of the coinage during the first three years, from
1860 to 1863, when the the Royal Mint
subcontracted out a very large part of the work
to two other mints: the
James Watt and the
Ralph Heaton mints,
as it was rather busy with the more important business of issuing the gold and
silver coinage require for the country. The later part of the research
shows which Mints would have produced what coins and possibly with which dies
during those early years of 1860 to 1863. See the web page for more details.

In December 2009 Michael
published an updated version of his first book on the British bronze coinage but this time it only
concentrates on the extremely popular Victorian series. Michael has found many
other major varieties for that period, date variations as well as many minor
errors and anomalies. This book is called "The
British Bronze Penny (Victoria 1860 to 1901) Specialised edition". See
the web page for more detail.

In 2014 Michael decided that it
was time to retire from running a shop after 48 years and on 8 May 2014 the shop
was closed and later that month sold to neighbours so that it could be converted back into a house.

There is no
more coin shop at that address !

Michael is helping with the
orders received by Michael Coin Ltd. However, he is doing this now in a more relaxed
way as he is semi-retired he and his wife are taking more 'time out' !

Michael Coins Ltd can only deal
with order - via "mail order". There are NO premises to visit.